The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, has introduced an automated mechanism for issuance of Free Sale and Commerce Certificates (FSC) through the DGFT Portal. The measure is aimed at promoting greater digitisation, reducing compliance burden and facilitating seamless and efficient services for exporters and the trade community. The initiative has been announced through Trade Notice No. 24/2026-2027 dated 31 August 2026.
Under Paragraph 2.34 of the Handbook of Procedures (HBP), DGFT issues Free Sale and Commerce Certificates to exporters in respect of items not covered under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940. Until now, applications submitted online by exporters were routed to the concerned DGFT Regional Authority (RA) for manual examination, verification and approval, resulting in considerable processing requirements.
As part of DGFT’s continuing efforts towards digitisation and automation of trade facilitation processes, and in line with the approach envisaged under Paragraph 1.04(d) of the Handbook of Procedures, 2023, a phased, rule-based and system-driven workflow with a risk-management approach has now been enabled for issuance of FSCs on the DGFT Portal.
Under the new mechanism, applications fulfilling the prescribed eligibility criteria and prevailing system parameters will be considered for automatic issuance of the Free Sale and Commerce Certificate, subject to applicable conditions. This will enable eligible exporters to obtain certificates without the need for routine manual processing by the Regional Authority.
At the same time, the automated framework incorporates appropriate safeguards. Applications requiring further verification, or those that do not satisfy the prescribed automated processing parameters, will continue to be routed to the concerned Regional Authority for manual examination and processing.
Further, certain applications that are initially auto-approved may subsequently be flagged to the concerned Regional Authority for review in accordance with the risk-management parameters built into the system. The mechanism thus seeks to combine faster processing for eligible cases with suitable verification and risk-control measures.
The introduction of automated FSC issuance marks a transition from a predominantly manual verification process to a system-driven workflow, enabling more seamless and paperless processing and improving turnaround times for trade and industry. The Trade Notice specifically highlights that the initiative is intended to facilitate expedited processing through the DGFT Portal.
The measure is expected to further strengthen DGFT’s digital service-delivery framework by simplifying procedural requirements for eligible exporters while ensuring that cases requiring scrutiny remain subject to appropriate verification by the Regional Authorities.
The Trade Notice can be accessed at: https://a2ztaxcorp.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/TN-for-FScc.pdf
